Light for life: Glowing button cycling jacket

Not everyone wants to look like an athlete while cycling to work or school. This cycling-jacket, made of hemp and wool, is equipped with lots of shining bright LEDs. It looks just as good during the day as it does during the night. Embedding the Arduino Lilypad electronics in the jacket, makes it at practical as it is nice to look at!

Step 1: Gather stuff for the project

This project includes working with textile and a bit of electronics.
To make the jacket I used the following tools:

- sewing machine
- sewing needles
- seam ripper
- enough cloth to make a jacket
- tape measure
- pins
- sewing thread in different colours
- 16 semitransparent buttons

electric tools/equipment:
- multimeter
- conductive sewing thread
- Lilypad Arduino
- 2 Lilypad pushbuttons
- Lilypad batterypack
- 6 red 3mm LED
- 6 orange 3mm LED
- 2 white 3mm LED
- puffy fabric paint

Comments

[bkf11]

Hi. I am very impressed by the care and integrity of this project. I love the way you incorporated the LEDs into buttons and used conductive thread (where do you get that from?) and thus really incorporate the electronics into the piece of clothing rather than simply sewing wires and bare LEDs onto a jacket. Very very clever! Benjamin

[lioncour]

This is so cool.
The woman is also nice.

[wahyu wijanarko]

is it washable??

[ohthatshowitworks]

Is it ?

[ShortedOut]

If you are still monitoring this instructable... Judging from the size of your buttons next to the drill bit in your photo (you said that you drilled 6 mm holes), they must be around 3 cm in diameter? I have searched everywhere for semi-transparent buttons in a large size, and can't locate any. Were these vintage buttons that you already had? Or were they new when you made the instructable? If so, is there a place online where I could buy them? Thanks so much..

[renagade676]

Also try http://www.buttons-boutique.com/

[dulciquilt]

this site has a variety: http://www.thefind.com/crafts/info-clear-round-buttons If you live in the US check fabric stores like JoAnn's or Hancocks. Craft stores often have bags or small tubs of misc buttons, but may only have 6 of same one

[ShortedOut]

I thought of a tip for sanding down your LEDs... could you perhaps use a fingernail file instead? I'm thinking of the kind that you can buy cheaply at the pharmacy (or druggist, as they say in the UK), which have a course grit on one side and a fine grit on the other. Might be a way to avoid sanding your fingers...

[skunkbait]

Don't wear it to the airport!!!!!

[Yerboogieman]

That's what they said about my road flare coat.

[reds322]

hahaha

[0utbreak]

wow man u have skills :D

[nakul666]

a life saving instructable:)

[graytac]

Very cool and Mom is not so bad either.

[Yerboogieman]

Thats kinda what i was thinking when i saw the second picture.

[ElectrodeMike]

LOL Dude, leave his mum alone!

[patapon]

Good luck!

[kempton]

The jacket is insulated with puffy fabric paint, that isolate the conductive thread, so they don't corrode. The arduino lilypad is also waterproof. The weakest point would be the battery i presume, so don't get too wet :) Regarding the helmet, I agree that it is important. Too many people don't bother with it. This was the case when I took pictures of my mother in the Frogner park in Oslo.

[gtrldy]

What about wearing in the rain? Will this cause any trouble with rusting or such of the parts?

[boredsearcher]

great idea wont make a difference without a helmet

[skunkbait]

Preventing an accident, and minimizing injury IN THE EVENT of an accident are two very different things. If you think you're going to have an accident, then by all means, wear the helmet. But many of us are satisfied with just taking steps to prevent the accident in the first place.

[vhcl]

THIS IS GREAT!!!!!! Now I have to get a Sewing machine for my wife, and convince her to do the sewing and I'll take care of the electronics. Thank U for a awesome Instructable

[Phoghat]

I may be dense, but why didn't you use the jacket you ripped apart?

[kempton]

Well, really I just wanted to make a jacket with a sporty fit in a material like hemp which is more casual. Also, the jacket was black, and I found the shining buttons to be a lot more visible on a light background/textile.

[Calorie]

Aren't sporty and casual at odds? And what's wrong with denim cotton?

[oscaram12]

Wow, I am a biker man, this is awesome, but i don't know sew; with this idea I have an inspiration to try with an old jacket. Jacket with LED´s rocks.

[mdandron]

this Instructable is awesome! I'm very impressed with your sewing/electrical talent.

[kempton]

The switches for the turningsignals are placed at the end of each sleeve. this makes it easy to either hit the sleeve on the handlebar, simply pressing it, or against your body. I did try with a accelerometer, but it proved to be slightly overkill and expensive. What I also would like to get hold of, is conductive thread that is already isolated, so I dont have to use fabric paint afterwards. Suggestions?

[recumbentrecycler]

I wonder if you could sew with thin magnet wire. It has an insulating coating and is about as thin as some threads.

[rocketguy]

Magnet wire is not ideal for two reasons: more subject to fatigue than conductive thread, and also the insulated coating is probably too fragile to survive long in this application. Mostly it's the fatigue that would get you.

[astri-ma]

Oh, and we need a hat. (EHM - isn't there supposed to be a helmet? Hmmmmm, the model seems to be a bit of an anarchist. Or is it the designer?) But I'd want a couple buttons on the top of the hat too, to signal low-flying aircraft or crows.

[astri-ma]

Brilliantly simple, recyclable non-invasive idea. So simple - "even mom can do it," -uh - oh, right, Kodak got sued for that silly line. But it's brilliantly democratic. I want one! But I want more buttons. It would be cool to take it a step further, and do a customized design on the back, with smaller buttons. For me, a nice spiral with echoes of viking and celtic. Keep it up Kempton!

[thepelton]

I like it! I do a lot of bike riding myself, and find myself out on the street after dark a lot. What I would probably do is put one or more of the shoulder lights out on the sleeves so you could signal right and left just by putting out your arms.

[talk2myshirt]

Light for life - I love this title :) This is one great design, aesthetically and comes with fabulously detailed instructions.

[Doctor What]

How fantastic! It looks amazing, and she looks dashing in it!

[kenbob]

I like it! where did you put the switches for turn signals?

[fwjs28]

sweetness...

[lemonie]

Yea, I like it! L